Live Sports Redefining Linear TV: NFL Thanksgiving Sets Record Amid Shifting Media Landscape
December 5, 2024
In this week’s Member Insights, Ian Whittaker, Twice City AM Analyst of the Year spotlights on how live sports is redefining linear tv.
Another example of how live sports continues to dominate US linear TV viewing but also one that both highlights the differences with the European TV environment and also raises questions about what is linear TV.
The NFL reported that the three Thanksgiving NFL games saw a highest-ever average audience of 34.2m. NFL games in 2023 made up 93 out of the top 100 most-watched live linear TV programmes.
It also shows just how different the U.S. and European television markets are and why the former is in far more structural peril than the latter. With the major Tech giants such as hashtag#Amazon and hashtag#YouTube buying NFL games, it feels inevitable TV ad spend will shift across. But that is not the case in Europe where the viewing and programming mix is entirely different.
However, it also raises a question as to what constitutes linear TV. Amazon and YouTube are considered streaming services but they are effectively – when showing live games – acting as linear TV broadcasters. Given the importance of live sports games, that raises a major question around (1) how they should be classified (2) what budgets they should take money from and (3) how they might be dealt with internally at agencies.
As usual, this is not investment advice.